Thanks to Chilly Hargrave for the wine review.

This week in the kitchen we had guest chef Nicolas (Nico) Flipo with his partner Jess Farrow. Many members remembered Jess, a valued member of the crew at REX who is now working as a professional more aligned to her university qualifications. After a slow start numbers were excellent at over forty.

Canapes

Being French, Nico started off with beef tartare in the classic style using gherkin, capers, parsley and mayonnaise, to name a few. It was indeed classic and much liked.

He followed this up with a cream of asparagus soup which had some carrots included. I did not pick the asparagus and it was a very tasty vegetable soup.

Main Course

Classic French doesn’t come much more classic then duck a l'orange. This was served with squares of pressed potatoes which had been baked. Many will have bad memories of sweet duck a l'orange but this one had a beautiful savoury character. Apparently, it was a recipe he had not prepared since chef school in France, but it certainly a recipe many would like to get their hands on.

The duck was served with an interesting combination of a duck “jerky” topping and dehydrated blood orange slices with French shallots and pickled radish. A big success.

Cheese

Nico hails from the Rhône-Alpes region of France and James Healey picked a local cheese from there in the much loved Beaufort. This fromage is a Society favourite and it did not disappoint with firm creamy texture and fruity flavour.

Nico had selected a range of breads from a producer called BakeBar who operate from three locations in Sydney. We had a seeded loaf, a white loaf and a wholemeal loaf. They are a high-quality producer almost up there with Iggy’s.

Coffee

Spencer Ferrier’s pick was a strong black style of coffee which turned out to be Mexican. The big surprise was that after some had complimented him on the coffee, he advised it was decaffeinated. Despite my reservations, I loved its full flavour.

A much-enjoyed lunch with our guest couple presenting a very professional meal. Nico mainly does private catering for dinners large and small. Some asked for contact details and they are as follows:

Nicolas Flipo 0406051373

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Wines

Today’s wine selection to match the canapés was a mix of Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Chardonnay. All were well received and prompted some interesting discussion. These were naturally accompanied by a fine Fino.

The duck course was presented with a couple of Australian Pinot Noirs. A 2010 Medhurst Pinot was showing youth and bright fruit with a slightly hard tannin grip. This was paired with a 2008 Coldstream Hills Pinot. While fully mature and more on the nose, it had good weight and complex flavours. It was perhaps the better match of the two for the duck.

With the cheese, we had a 2013 Wynn’s Cabernet Sauvignon and a 2004 Taylor’s Jaraman Cabernet Sauvignon. The former showed the expected pure fruit aromas with a delightful blackcurrant flavour and grippy Cabernet tannins. So well balanced. The latter was a blend of Clare and Coonawarra. The ripe, almost jammy, fruit was still apparent on the nose. In the mouth, the fruit was showing its age and was now out of balance with the still aggressive tannins.